Challenging Schedule On Tap For Bulldogs In 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A home date with perennial national power
UConn and trips to New England rivals Boston College and Providence
highlight the 2009 Yale men's soccer schedule. The Bulldogs will
play eight of 17 games in the friendly confines of Reese Stadium,
including matches with Ivy League foes Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell
and Brown.

The season kicks off on Sept. 5 against Quinnipiac. Yale then
returns to the Brown Classic for the first time since 2004 to play
Adelphi and SMU, which has reached the NCAA College Cup in 23 of
the last 25 years. The Bulldogs take on Central Connecticut at
Willow Brook Park in New Britain on Sept. 16 followed by home dates
with St. Francis, N.Y., and Rhode Island. The final tune up before
the start of Ivy play takes Yale to Sacred Heart on Sept. 29.

The Harvard game on Oct. 3 is the first of three straight
against teams that reached the College Cup last year. The
trip to Boston College and a home date with Dartmouth, which shared
last year's Ivy title, complete the difficult stretch. The Bulldogs
then travel to Providence and host Cornell before UConn visits
Reese Stadium on Oct. 20. Yale played a scoreless tie with the
Huskies last year in Storrs. The season concludes with four
straight Ivy games, three of which will be on the road against Penn
(Oct. 24), Columbia (Oct. 31) and Princeton (Nov. 13). Yale hosts
Brown on Senior Day on Nov. 7.

"As always we are looking to test ourselves against the highest
level competition from around the region and the country," said
Yale head coach Brian Tompkins. "Having perennial powerhouse
programs like Connecticut, Boston College and SMU on our
non-conference calendar will be a tremendous challenge for
us. The Ivy League will be as close as ever this year and we
will use the experience gained from the non-league games to prepare
us for what promises to be a tough conference season."

Yale returns 13 letterwinners from last year's team that
finished 7-7-3 and 3-3-1 in league play.